Protect Yourself and Report the Latest Frauds, Scams, Spams, Fakes, Identify Theft Hacks and Hoaxes
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Have you received an email from Elizabeth Hanks at the "NATIONAL LOTTERY HEADQUARTERS" telling you that "your email address won in the second category" or something similar? It is a scam.
There are only two legal large lotteries in Britain, the National Lottery and the Monday Lottery, anyway, and they do NOT use email to notify winners. Below is a scam email actually received.
DO NOT reply to any emails you receive that claim you have won a lottery that you did not enter. They are frauds. You will lose your money. There is no "free lunch"; don't be foolish and believe a scam! We can not say it any more plainly: YOU WILL NOT BE NOTIFIED BY EMAIL BY ANY LEGITIMATE LOTTERY THAT YOU WON A PRIZE. If you do receive such an email, it IS a fraud, do not reply to it! If you DID reply to one, see this page to find out what happens next!
Other resources:
In the UK, call the hotline at 020 7211 8111 to check or report lottery scams.
There are many other signs that this is a fraud that we have highlighted in the email below, typically including one or more of these:
Email address ballot: There is no such thing as a "computer ballot system" or "computer email draw". No one, not even Microsoft has a database of email addresses of the type or magnitude they suggest.
Terrible spelling, punctuation, syntax and grammar - Scammers apparently don't know how to use spell checkers. We assume they dropped out of school before that class. They use almost random CapItaLiZAtion and often can't even spell "February" or know that "22th" ought to be "22nd". Real lotteries proofread their emails and use people who can write above the 3rd grade level.
Using free email account: The scammer is writing to you from a FREE email account (Yahoo, Hotmail, Excite, AIM, Gmail, etc.). Don't you think a real organization would use its own email, its own domain and website?
Keep Confidential - Real lotteries THRIVE on publicity - they don't want you to keep anything secret - the publicity causes people to buy more tickets. there is NO risk of "double claiming" because they can validate where the ticket numbers were sold. The scammer want you to keep quiet because they don't want the police or ConsumerFraudreporting to hear about them!
Email notification: NO REAL LOTTERY SENDS AN EMAIL TO NOTIFY WINNERS. Period. Full-stop. End of story. There mere fact ALONE that you received an email saying you won a lottery is proof that it is a scam.
Here is a typical scam lottery winning notification.
From: "Elizabeth Hanks (MRS) ." < claimrepinfo@yahoo.co.uk >
Sent: Friday, March 09, 2007 7:54 AM
Subject: Congratulation!!!!National Lottery Headquarters:
Customer Service
28 TANFIELD ROAD,!
CROYDON.LONDONRef: BTL/491OXI/04
Batch: 12/25/03044th of March,2007
Dear prize winner,
We happily announce to you the draw of the National Lottery International programs held on the 8th of Feb 2007 in London. Your e-mail address attached to ticket number: 694 75600545 721 with Serial number 886/04 drew the lucky numbers:(16)(27)(29)(34)(39)(45) (19) ,which subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd category. You are therefore, been approved to claim a total sum of £2,000,000.00 (Two Million British Pounds Sterling) in cash credited to file RPC/9080118308/04. This is from a total cash prize of GBP £8,Million Pounds Sterling, shared amongst the first four lucky winners in this category. This year Lottery Program Jackpot is the largest ever for National Lottery .The estimated £11,955,850 Million jackpot would be the sixth-biggest in U.K. history.
The biggest was the £260 million jackpot that went to two winners in a May 2000 drawing of The Big Game, Mega Millions' predecessor. Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our European booklet representative office in Europe as indicated in our play coupon.
In view of this, your £2,000,000.00 (Two Million British Pounds Sterling) would be release to you by our affiliate Courier or bank in London depending on you choice.Our agent will immediately commence the process to facilitate the release of your funds to you as soon as you make contact with him .All participants were selected randomly from World Wide Web site through computer draw system and extracted from over 100,000 companies.
This promotion takes place nnually. For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information confidential till your claims is processed and your money remitted to you in whatever manner you deem fit to claim your prize. This is to avoid double claims amongst other anticipated glitches that may and could lead to your prize being diverted. Please be warned.
To file for your claim, please contact our fiduciary agent with the below details for processing of your claims.
AGENT: Eric Chestfield
BRENT AND ASSOCIATE LTD U.K,
20 C! RAWTHORN ROAD, LONDON,
ED2 3GB ENGLAND
PHONE # +44-70-3194-0870
FAX # +44-87-1247-6662
Email: claimrepinfo@yahoo.co.ukTo avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please quote your reference/batch numbers in any correspondences with us or our designated agent. Congratulations once more from all members and staffs of this program. Thank you for being part of our promotional lottery program. Sincerely,
Elizabeth Hanks(MRS).
Zonal CoordinatorWarning!!!: Fraudulent emails are circulating that appear to be using National Lottery addresses, but are not from The National lottery. PLEASE REPORT IMMEDIATELY TO :CUSTOMER CARE/COMPLAINTS DEPT: support@nationallottery.co.uk
Copyright © 1994-2006 The National Lottery Inc. All rights reserved. Terms of Service - Guideline 77635 476378 255667460
Click here for the huge list of the names of the currently identified lottery scams companies
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